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Scott Polacek@@ScottPolacekTwitter LogoFeatured Columnist IVDecember 13, 2023
Ric Tapia/Getty Images
Get ready for potential rule changes in the NFL for the 2024 season.
NFL executive vice president of football ops Troy Vincent spoke on Wednesday and referred to the kickoff as a “dead ceremonial play today,” per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. He suggested the league will investigate changes, with Pelissero sharing that it “sounds like the one-year experiment encouraging fair catches will be modified, if not going away entirely.”
A new rule allows kick returners to call fair catches even in the field of play. This means the kickoff is ruled a touchback, and the offensive team starts on its own 25-yard line.
There’s a discussion to be had about minimizing kick returns, as they are dangerous plays that can lead to injuries. However, they are also a vital part of the game and can lead to game-changing developments.
Players like Devin Hester and Dante Hall also became famous through starring on kick returns.
NFL @NFL
Career leader in combined kickoff and punt returns for touchdowns.@D_Hest23 is special teams royalty. Will he make the #NFL100 All-Time team?
📺: NFL 100 All-Time Team | Friday 8pm ET on @NFLNetwork pic.twitter.com/BmGjR6xWCA
Yet there haven’t been many this season following the new touchback rule.
According to Fox Sports, nearly every NFL team has seen 70 percent or more of their kickoffs end in a touchback, with the Minnesota Vikings leading the way at 84.2 percent. Only the Green Bay Packers (56.3 percent) are below the 60–percent threshold.
That wasn’t the only thing Vincent addressed, as Ian Rapoport of NFL Network noted he said the league plans on discussing changes to the rule that gives the defending team the ball as a touchback whenever the ball is fumbled out of bounds in the end zone.
Whenever such a play happens, especially in a standalone or primetime game, it immediately inspires reactions and arguments from fans and commentators. After all, the offense maintains possession if it fumbles the ball out of bounds anywhere else on the field.
However, the rules are also different in the end zone when it comes to things such as forward progress when crossing the plane of the goal line or maintaining possession, so one could argue having different rules in this instance isn’t that inconsistent.
Wherever one falls when arguing about such plays, those rules might not be the same next year.